


A Flicker of Light

by lunaseemoony



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Love Virtually - Daniel Glattauer, Teninch - Fandom
Genre: (sort of), F/M, First Kiss, Grief/Mourning, Hotels, Hurt/Comfort, Phone Calls & Telephones, Post-Episode: s02e13 Doomsday, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 08:36:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7567453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaseemoony/pseuds/lunaseemoony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“A first kiss. When your lips touch mine for the first time it’d be like the sun rising on a new day. A quick touch of your soft lips to mine, briefly sharing warmth and a breath. A little taste, some heart, and a bit of hope.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Flicker of Light

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by missamymjo on tumblr as part of my Fourteen Days of Ficlets special.

“Hello, Leo?” 

There was a sigh on the other end of the line. “Rose. I thought I might not ever hear from you again.” 

Rose wiggled beneath the covers of her bed and nipped her lip before replying. She hadn’t spoken to Leo in three weeks but it took a solid two for the guilt to start festering properly, and the last one she’d been too busy to ring him. Too busy and too scared he wouldn’t talk to her. She wouldn’t blame him. 

“I’m sorry, Leo. I meant to… well no. I didn’t. That’s a lie.” She clutched the duvet in her fingers, wringing wrinkles in it with her fingers. “You sound just like _him_. Except with a slight brogue. It was a shock. And then when you stopped by the gala I saw you and…” Rose rounded her lips and measured out a long breath to buoy herself. 

He swallowed into the receiver. He always had his glass of wine. Rose smiled and covered her heart, silently pleading with it to stay calm. 

“I look like him don’t I?” 

Tears sprung forth and simmered on Rose’s cheeks. She nodded and sniffed. 

“Rose?” 

He couldn’t see her nod. “It’s not your fault, okay? I don’t blame you. It’s just hard because I wanted this with us so badly.” 

Another gulp over the line. Liquid courage. “You sound muffled, Rose. Where are you?” 

Rose pulled the covers from over her head and the crisp air kissed her warm skin cool. She brought the duvet across her shoulders and rolled so she was in a burrito of warmth. 

“I’m on a mission in Barra. In a tiny hotel in bed. Here, better?”

“You’re in bed. What’re you wearing?” 

Rose wiped her face on her pillow and swept a couple of fresh tears from her eyes. “No, Leo. Please don’t make this harder.” 

“You don’t blame me for being the Doctor’s twin but I have to suffer because he existed? Exists. Oh Rose please don’t cry I didn’t mean it. I can’t bear to hear your sweet voice broken up with tears.” 

This only made the flood rush in quicker. “I’m doing this for _you_! I don’t wanna do this to you, Leo. You deserve better than this. Me lookin’ at you like a ghost, stuck here for the rest of my life. It’s not fair to you. You’re too good for that.” 

“Rose.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t say my name like that.”

He breathed heavily into his mobile, a growl hovering in his throat by the sounds of it. “Am I not even allowed to have that to myself? Tell me it sounds just a bit different, Rose.” He paused as if to taste the word, her name on his lips like sticky honey, before he repeated it. “Rose. I won’t let him have that, the way that I say it. That’s for me to have on lonely nights worrying about you cursing the universe by throwing yourself at it. He can’t have it. Tell me that you’ll let me be selfish and have just that, Rose.” 

Rose couldn’t answer. Not even Leo’s selfish kindness could keep further tears at bay. They followed like a river after a summer rain, soaking her duvet along with them. The same desire floated silently between them over hundreds of miles. Only Rose’s was tempered with painful reminders of loss. And she refused to let Leo be that. 

“Let me make it better, please. Let me help at least. When you get back. I’ll text you my address. You don’t have to look at me, don’t even have to listen to me. Just let me hold you and make it all go away, even if for a few minutes.”

“Listen to… to yourself,” Rose stammered between a sob and a hiccup. 

“Kind of impossible not to.”

“That’s not right. What would you get out of it?” 

“I dunno. For a few moments we could have what we did before. I don’t have the luxury of a convenient, heartbreaking excuse to let you go. I’ll respect your wishes always. But until you tell me we’re done I won’t give up so easily. Everyone else will tell YOU to be strong and rise above it all. I know that it comes with time, and you have to _want_ it. I’m so selfish, Rose. But I’m willing to wait. I want to help. Don’t shut the door on me, Rose.” 

“Why would you do all that for me?”

“You know why.”

The answer was already pounding fiercely in Rose’s chest whether she wanted it to or not. Her anger at it wasn’t because she wasn’t ready to hear it. She had to give up to accept it. To everyone else being strong meant accepting the cards she’d been dealt and moving on. Leo tempted her with welcoming her anguish with a warm embrace and all the patience she didn’t deserve. 

“What would you have of me after all that waiting? Might be a while.”

“ _You_ , Rose. Just you. You, me, a couch and a bottle of wine. Getting pissed drunk and laughing at the world rather than cursing it. A kiss, maybe.” Rose had no words to offer him for this. All she could do was hold her head above water after drying her face. “A first kiss. When your lips touch mine for the first time it’d be like the sun rising on a new day. A quick touch of your soft lips to mine, briefly sharing warmth and a breath. A little taste, some heart, and a bit of hope.”

“That’s cruel to hear right now.”

“You asked.”

She was quick to blurt, “I don’t have anything I can offer you.” 

“That’s not true but okay.” 

“What is this then?” 

Rose heard his smile in his words and she wanted to wrap herself up in them like her shield of blankets. “Us, same as always. That’s what it’ll always be as long as you’re willing, nothing more, nothing less. You not shutting me out because I can’t lose you.”

“Think I can manage that.”


End file.
